Effect of pre-harvest bagging on the calcium, potassium, Iron contents and quality of pomegranate fruit cv. Shishe-Kab at cold storage

Pomegranate (cv. Shishe-kab) is an invaluable sub-tropical fruit which is sensitive to chilling injury during cold storage (Moradinezhad et al., 2014). Fruit elements play an important role in stress resistance (Andrew, 2002). Among them, potassium is an important element which is involved in plant respiration and increases plant resistance to drought stress, pests and diseases, and chilling injury (Manouchehri, 2004). In research on apple fruit, the amount of water-soluble calcium was largely associated with physiological disorders of fruit (Amarante et al., 2013). Bagging is a simple and physical technique commonly used in the garden during fruit growth and may affect fruit composition (Sharma et al., 2014). Some of the benefits of bagging such as reducing physical damage can be expected. In addition, this may have different effects on the quality of the red color of the fruit by reducing radiation (Haynes, 1980) and increase the shelf life through reduction the physiological disorders. It is likely that pre-harvest bagging reducing the amount of calcium in the fruit (Cline and Hanson, 1992). Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of pre-harvest fruit bagging on the storage life and some of the important mineral elements of pomegranate fruit.